The season 5 premiere of “Pretty Little Liars” picks up right where the season 4 finale left off – Ezra is in the hospital after being shot and Mrs. DiLaurentis is supposedly still dead. Luckily Ez survives and is able to tell Aria that “A” is…wait for it… Shana! Or is she? One can never be sure when it comes to Rosewood. While the Shana reveal is interesting, perhaps the most alarming disclosure is that Melissa and Mr. Hastings are keeping what seems to be a very serious secret from Veronica, Spence and Holbrook.

“I want to tell Holbrook the truth,” Melissa privately confesses to Mr. Hastings. “When Spencer finds out she will have a reason to come home.”

“Your mother can never know what you told me,” Mr. Hastings says, before walking away.

Later we see Melissa join the ‘I hate the Alison DeLaurentis Club’ alongside Mona, Paige and the other young people Ali has hurt in the past. “There is strength in numbers,” Mona tells those once tormented by Ali. “The bigger we are the harder (Ali) falls. But Paige is skeptical. Then Melissa shows up, causing Paige to reconsider her position. But why?

Aria, Emily, Spence, Ali and Hanna split up in order to determine who “A” is once and for all. Luckily “A”/Shana comes to them. (The Liars don’t seem to have much skill when it comes to solving crimes.) By this time Ali has joined Em, Spence and Hanna at the Fitzgerald Theater, which Ezra’s family happens to own. Aria, meanwhile, is still at the hospital by Ezra’s side. Shana pays Aria a random visit. She says she’s there to
look after Aria and see that Ezra recovers. She even makes sure that Aria is comfortable while napping. But later in the evening, Ezra tells Aria that Shana is “A.”

Shana escapes the hospital before Aria can get to her. She heads to the Fitzgerald Theater to kill Ali. (How does she know that the rest of the girls are there? Did she overhear Aria on the phone?) At the theater, Shana reveals that she was responsible for locking the Liars together in the lodge on the night of the fire. Gun in hand, Shana says that she is getting “justice” for Jenna. Whether or not Jenna knows about any of Shana’s revenge tactics is not clear.

Just before Shana attempts to take Ali’s life, Aria sneaks up from behind and pushes her into the orchestra pit. Shana is dead and the Liars think the “A” game is over. But it hardly seems that way. Ali’s behavior throughout the episode is just too sneaky. She tells Emily that Cece was never redcoat. Turns out that that was just a disguise Ali asked Cece to wear to distract “A.” Also Ezra paid Cece to collect information for his book. According to Ali, Emily got locked in the box because of “A,” not Cece. In fact, Cece saved Em’s life. By episode’s end Cece is boarding a plane as Vivian Darkbloom.

What do you think? Is Shana “A”? What’s Melissa’s secret? Leave your thoughts in the comments.